Dominicans ask that of us immigration reform also reach Puerto Rico

posted on: May 2 2013 7:0 by RDugey. Viewed 20892 times.

The Dominican Human Rights Committee asked the reform immigration that prepares the US Congress.UU. come also to Puerto Rico, where, according to that organization, living illegally more than 200,000 Dominicans who suffer the consequences of the lack of roles.

The President of the section of Puerto Rico of the Committee Dominican of the rights human, José Rodríguez, yesterday told Efe that with a bill for comprehensive immigration reform debate in the Senate is it should not be forgotten that in this State associate of us free.UU. There is also the problem of illegal immigration.

Rodriguez headed a concentration in San Juan before federal immigration facilities on the Caribbean island on Wednesday to denounce a problem that affects nearly half of Dominicans living in Puerto Rico.

"It's a community that has to be taken into account," said the leader of the NGO, which calculated that the Dominicans living in Puerto Rico added about 400,000 people and it accounts for more than 90 per cent of all foreigners residing on the Caribbean island.

He noted that Dominicans living illegally in Puerto Rico are harassed by the local security forces, who said, they act as immigration agents without having jurisdiction for this task.

"Dominicans illegally are a breeding ground for the police," insisted Rodriguez, who repeatedly has denounced persecution and racial discrimination against the community of his country in Puerto Rico by the security forces of the island.

In his view, with the regularization of illegal Dominicans in Puerto Rico is solve situations of abuse repeatedly suffering that community at the hands of unscrupulous employers who take advantage of the vulnerability of this group.

Rodriguez denounced that in many cases, especially in the sector of the construction, some employers take advantage of the irregular situation of Dominicans for not paying the amounts to which they are entitled.

"They threaten them out - undocumented Dominicans - fleeing, forgetting their pay," says Rodriguez, who says cases of workers who have ceased to charge many thousands of dollars for fear that their employers report to immigration authorities.

The new Puerto Rican Governor of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD), Alejandro García Padilla, promised in the election campaign to address the situation of that group.

Result of that commitment, the Dominican community will benefit from the draft law which the Executive will present so that undocumented immigrants on the island can apply for a driver's license.

In Puerto Rico there are 68,000 Dominicans with us citizenship, though unofficially of a population figures are shuffled total of between 200,000 and 400,000 people.